At first, the Co-op was an integral part
of the London underground scene, alongside International Times
magazine, the UFO Club, beat and concrete poetry, happenings,
light shows, psychedelia, pop and performance art.

In 1967 screenings moved from the defunct bookshop to the multi-media Arts Lab on Drury Lane.

The Arts Lab was a prototype hippie arts centre. The basement cinema was a long, low room; the floor covered with mattresses pulled from skips and street corners. It was a groovy place to hang out and see all night shows of b-movies with the reels all mixed up. But soon, as more films became available, the programming became more structured and the avant-garde was taken more seriously.

The new location attracted a shift in audience towards a younger crowd that were as interested in making films as just watching them. Filmmaking was encouraged by regular 'Open Screenings', where unsolicited, newly made films can be brought along and shown in public (a policy the LFMC retained throughout its lifetime).

See Alone (Stephen Dwoskin) Anne-Rees Mogg (Nothing is Something) Anthony Scott (The Longest, Most Meaningless Movie in the World)